1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a recording apparatus.
2. Description of the Related Art
In a recording apparatus for recording moving images or multi-media data such as audios, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 02-154367 discusses a technology for extending a recording time by a predetermined time unit by a predetermined operation. Further, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2000-069428 discusses a technology for continuing capturing a moving image when a recording button is operated after a predetermined time has elapsed, until termination of the operation of the recording button. Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2004-180191 discusses a technology in which a recording apparatus has a memory for temporarily storing video signals for a predetermined length of time, and recording past video signals according to an extension instruction.
As a recording medium, a recordable and non-erasable optical disk and a semiconductor memory (hereinafter, called write-once recording medium, e.g., Digital versatile disk recordable (DVD-R)), a rewritable optical disk (DVD rewritable (DVD-RW), DVD+RW, DVD random access memory (DVD-RAM), etc.), a hard disk, and, a semiconductor memory have become available. In an imaging apparatus that uses a write-once recording medium as the recording medium, erroneously captured images or audios cannot be erased, and thus a recording area of the recording medium will be consumed wastefully.
For a normal video camera, a toggle button is adopted for start/stop of recording in a recording mode. More specifically, when the recording start/stop button is pressed and released, then recording is started. At this state, when the recording start/stop button is again pressed and released, then the recording is temporarily stopped. Whether the recording is underway or is temporary stopped can be checked on a monitor screen such as an electronic viewfinder (EVF).
However, after start of the recording, sometimes a user may forget to perform a recording stop operation (temporary stop operation or power-off operation). When a video camera is fixed on a tripod, for example, the photographer who does not hold it in hand may often not be watching the monitor screen. As a result, the photographer may not be aware that it is during recording operation. If remaining capacity of the recording medium is small, such a useless recording cannot be allowed.
Such a situation also similarly occurs when music is recorded using a write-once recording medium as the recording medium. Also, even when an erasable recording medium is used, operability will be similarly impaired in the recording apparatus in which an erasure operation is cumbersome.